That’s remarketing!
Remarketing for DME Marketing
One of the newest and fastest growing direct marketing trends, remarketing (also referred to as “retargeting”) works by taking products and services that you have browsed (sometimes for a specific length of time) or that you have repeatedly returned to and promoting them using ad space on other websites.
This type of multi-touch marketing is having a huge impact on how companies conduct their campaigns, and the implications that these strategies could have on DME marketing and sales are enormous.
The idea is simple, and reflects a marketing principle as old as time: “out of sight, out of mind”. Remarketing capitalizes on the same type of impulse buying that makes the candy at the cash register so desirable. In short, when prospective customers are constantly reminded of your product or service (especially one they have previously shown some interest in), it remains front of mind, and they are ultimately more likely to convert into paying customers.
While the most popular remarketing platform currently operating is through Google Adwords, this marketing strategy is being extended to website views, search results, e-mail, and even social media engagement. As remarketing becomes increasingly sophisticated, companies are also utilizing “similar to” remarketing – which shows customers products and services that are complementary to what they had originally been browsing for. Think of it sort of like Amazon’s “People Also Bought…” feature.
This type of related content is what lead generation marketers refer to as the “funnel”. Like any good marketing or sales pipeline, the funnel offers information and messaging that encourages the prospect to keep clicking, keep learning more, before ultimately self-identifying as a potential customer through a lead generation web form. Remarketing is especially useful when taking this type of “funnel” approach because it allows you to populate different ads for different individuals depending on their last interaction and their last “stage” of the funnel. Perhaps more simply put, prospects who got further in the process will receive more tailored marketing messages that pick up where they left off.
How does it work?
Without getting too technical, remarketing works by remembering one’s previous internet actions and using that information to support a multi-touch marketing campaign and display product information on other webpages and online platforms.
From Wikipedia
Retargeting tags online users by including a pixel within the target webpage or email, which sets a cookie in the user’s browser. Once the cookie is set, the advertiser is able to show display ads to that user elsewhere on the internet via an ad exchange.
DME Leads and Remarketing
Remarketing, and multi-touch strategies in general, are a natural fit for DME companies who are using lead generation or looking to further develop their potential sales leads. A significant component (and challenge) of DME marketing is acquiring customers, something that could potentially be much more effective when embracing a multi-touch approach.
Remarketing is an attractive DME marketing strategy because it targets individuals that have a certain degree of familiarity. They will have visited your website before, be familiar with your brand, and generally be more educated about your product and service than your typical “cold” lead.
Consider all of the people who visit your website, read your DME marketing materials, think about it for a moment, but ultimately elect not to fill out your lead generation capture form. Utilizing remarketing creates an opportunity to reach those people, whom you know are very likely both eligible and interested in your DME product/service, a few more times. Including multi-touch strategies in your DME marketing plan increases the potential for these unconverted prospective customers to be directed back to your landing page and places them in “decision” mode multiple times, ultimately increasing the likelihood of their conversion into a sales lead.
Tricks of the Trade
Are you considering implementing a multi-touch marketing strategy as part of your DME marketing and sales program? Here are just a few things to consider when implementing remarketing tools as part of your program:
- Embrace Consistency – A big part of multi-touch marketing is having prospective customers recognize what they are seeing. Using consistent language, images, and branding will be incredibly important when it comes to building that recognition. With that said, one area where you can mix things up a bit is in the actual sizing of the ads. Whether it is banner, sidebar, or integrated, different sizes will allow your message to be noticed more regularly.
- Know The Environment – It is incredibly important, especially in the DME marketing space, to have a good idea of what your competition is up to. Running a similar type of campaign, with similar messaging will dramatically decrease the likelihood of your remarketing ads being noticed or interacted with.
- Do Your Homework – Like any marketing campaign, doing your research and understanding the market will be integral to the level of success you experience with a DME remarketing strategy. Follow the basics (understand your demographic, test and re-test, and keep track of your metrics) and you will be well on your way to bringing potential customers back to your landing page for another shot at conversion.
